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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24693739">So Far Gone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistressaq/pseuds/Mistressaq'>Mistressaq</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RuPaul's Drag Race RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Fairy Tale Elements, Implied/referenced infant death, Magic, Masturbation, Moon Wife, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, doesnt even take up a whole paragraph, it's brief i promise</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:48:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,920</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24693739</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mistressaq/pseuds/Mistressaq</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, there was a fair maiden who made a long and arduous journey in search of a sorceress who could cure her mothers' mysterious illness. The maiden did not expect that the banished mage would be beautiful, let alone kind and selfless.</p><p>Once upon a time, there was a lonely sorceress, imprisoned for crimes she did not commit. Then one day, a maiden appears, with unkempt hair and shoes worn all the way through. The sorceress never expected this stranger to awaken something within her which had been asleep for so long she forgot it existed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alaska Thunderfuck 5000/Katya Zamolodchikova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>So Far Gone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>title taken from Alaska and Jeremy's Amethyst Journey album.<br/>Don't expect quick updates, Act 2 do barely be off the ground.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h3>Act One</h3><p>The tower was even taller up close than it had seemed from afar. At the bottom of this very hill, Alaska had been ready to lie down and surrender to Fate. Yet. Here she was, spurred forward by an invisible hand. Alaska grabbed the door-knocker, twice the size of her head, and used all that was left of her might to swing the heavy metal hard enough to make a sound. Whatever knocking she did was lost to her over the sound of the roaring wind.</p><p>For the woman inside the tower, hearing the  knockers actually being used was a surprise. As quick as she could manage, the mysterious sorceress descended the many steps to her front door. </p><p>Alaska crumbled to the floor when the heavy doors swung open, letting out an “Oof!”</p><p>“Oh, <em> gods </em> my apologies, come here.”</p><p>Alaska glanced up to find a pink hand outstretched before her. Without thinking, she took it, and let the woman pull her to her unsteady feet. “Good Lady, you’re frozen solid! Come, there’s a fireplace this way— the better one is upstairs, but this’ll do in a pinch, just let me get some more logs…”</p><p>The sorceress prattled on, words that didn't sink into her guest’s frost-bitten ears. Alaska was too busy taking in her surroundings. The room was circular, with the front door behind her and the opening to a spiraling stone staircase to the left of the door. The fireplace the sorceress ushered her towards was tucked under the stairs on the right side of the room, along with a small, cluttered sitting area. </p><p>The sorceress pulled a fur cloak from somewhere and beat dust out of it. “This is the warmest I’ve got right now,” she babbled. “Whenever I can go out, I do it in this. It’s always windy down here, because of the mountains.”</p><p>“Thank you,” said Alaska. </p><p>“I haven't even put it on you yet,” the sorceress chuckled. She sounded somewhat nervous. Uncomfortable?</p><p>The fur was wrapped around her shoulders. Alaska pulled it fully across her body. She breathed onto her numb hands and rubbed them together beneath the cloak. Her clothes were still damp from the rain and from fording the river and from skinning her knees and hands on countless snags in the forest. Her eyes were heavy and her shaking body ached to rest, but she could not. Not yet. “I n-nee-eed your h-help,” she managed. </p><p>The woman seemed to falter. Her shoulders fell, incrementally. “Okay,” she said softly. “Can I make you tea first?”</p><p>Alaska’s eyes dropped closed. She felt her strength fading, and shook her head softly. “No, I need… my mom needs a cure, magical cure for magical… sickness.” </p><p>The sorceress turned around just in time to catch her guest’s head before she keeled forward onto her shamefully dusty rug. </p><p>____</p><p>“Hellooo...” the sound of a woman’s voice came across Alaska’s senses at the same time as she became aware of a strong vinegar odor. She grimaced and swatted limply before squinting her eyes open. </p><p>Standing over her was a diamond-faced woman with pale hair, bright red lips and pale blue eyes, wearing long green robes, and holding a vial. That vial must contain the vinegar Alaska had smelled. For a moment, Alaska was completely unaware where she was. At the same time, she wasn’t afraid. As the past few days came flooding back to her, she grabbed at the fur cloak, still tucked around her. Her brows furrowed at the same time she realized her clothes were dry. In fact, upon further inspection, she wasn’t wearing her own clothes at all.</p><p>As Alaska took stock of her body and the injuries she’d amassed on her journey, the sorceress prattled on, as she was wont to do. “...couldn’t really tell what was your color, so I went with this one I wear during the spring holiday … And I know it’s not spring… But I thought with your complection and all, it would look nice on you and it does…”</p><p>Alaska ran her fingers through her mess of usually tangled hair, only to find her fingers pulled right through. She looked to the jabbering woman. “Did you brush out my hair?”</p><p>“What? Oh. Yeah-- not the mess on the top, but-- I mean, it was in a state, you have to admit and I can’t let you leave here like that, what kind of host am I? Speaking of, I hit you with a health spell hours ago, but you need to eat, so here.” The woman walked a few feet away to grab a reflective tray of tea and sandwiches. </p><p>It was at this point Alaska realized they were no longer in the dingy sitting room, which meant this must be at the top of the sorceress’ tower. She was in a lavish bed, opposite of which was a wardrobe packed to near uselessness, pieces of fabric and unmatched shoes spilling everywhere. The tea tray Katya took from what looked like a three person sitting area near a tiny window, from which leaked weak sunlight. The rest of the chamber  was primarily illuminated by candles. Judging by the amount of sunlight, Alaska had slept through dawn. Her stomach clenched independent of hunger. With another night behind her, her mother was running out of time. </p><p>The rest of the room was a mass of books, loose papers, pamphlets held to the floor with large rocks and crystals. Across a whole wall of the room were drying racks, where herbs and spices hung, filling the room with a smell like a library and like an apothecary in one. Alaska found it soothing as she was able to actually take tea and break bread with the woman she had crossed literal mountains to see. </p><p>“Wait,” she said. “One thing. Well. A couple things.”</p><p>The sorceress put her feet up on a storage chest, which was overflowing in a similar way to the wardrobe. “Go on.”</p><p>“Uh. Do you have a name? That you go by? Or do I just address you as ‘madam’ or ‘my lady’ or--”</p><p>The sorceress breathed out fifteen syllables that sounded like an incantation, but Alaska would find out were actually the sorceress’ full name. Then she said, “But you can call me Katya.”</p><p>“Okay then, my… uh, Katya.” Alaska gave a nod of her head. “I don’t know how much I was able to tell you last night, but I’m here because of my mother.”</p><p>“Mm.” Katya hummed over her tea. “And I hope you know, I can only help if the issue is magical. I’m useless against plagues.”</p><p>Alaska shook her head and leaned back. She started to find it difficult to swallow as the mental images came flooding back. “The priest, apothecary, and fortune teller all agree it’s no earthly illness.”</p><p>Katya stuffed half a sandwich in her mouth. “So what’s wrong with her?”</p><p>Alaska shifted uncomfortably. “There’s… a rash. The plaques and pustules glow from within. They form cracks in her skin like wood in the fire. She cannot hear or speak or see. Her eyes--” her throat closed up before she could finish. </p><p>Katya stood up and tiptoed around the debris in her room, dusting off one leather-bound volume before tossing it behind her. It was on her bookshelf that she found a pamphlet which, once fully unfolded, was twice the length of Alaska. </p><p>"The fortune teller predicts that next new moon..." The worry itched its way up Alaska’s throat like bile until-- “It’s not death we’re afraid of.” </p><p>Katya looked up from her pamphlet and raised an eyebrow. </p><p>Alaska wrapped her arms around herself. “It’s what she’s becoming. We’re afraid she won’t die, but instead will transform into some monster only wearing the face of our mother.”</p><p>Katya’s face softened and she started to re-fold the pamphlet as she made her way back across the room. “How many are you?” she asked.</p><p>Alaska released some tension. “Four in all, me included. It’s me, my sister, and our two younger brothers.” She shook her head. “They aren’t old enough to work yet, they’re only children. We can’t--”</p><p>“Can barely keep yourselves fed now, nevermind if you lose her,” Katya finished for her, her eyes distant. Then she looked Alaska in the eye and nodded. “And you’re already skipping meals so the rest can eat?” she presumed. </p><p>Alaska blushed, the knowledge that Katya had undressed her last night creeping back to her. “Yeah. Uh… anyway,” she cleared her throat. “You could probably gather from what we just discussed, but… I have no way to pay you, if you decide to help us.” Alaska looked up, her thoughts quickly changing speeds. “But I can work for you, I’ll become your indentured servant. I’ve heard you can’t leave this valley, but I can. I’ll go on missions or quests for rare ingredients or ancient texts, whatever you need, I’ll--”</p><p>Katya silenced her with a finger to her thin lips. The sorceress’ light blue eyes bored into Alaska’s soul. The girl felt like Katya was reaching into her mind with some spectral hand. Alaska remembered what the local fortune teller had told her: a wizard can reach inside and read your secrets like they’re written out in plain ink. She did what the fortune teller had told her to protect herself, and imagined a corridor full of open doors, and she slammed them all at once. </p><p>If Katya sensed her imaginings, her face did not betray it. Instead, her eyes lowered to where her finger was still pressed against Alaska’s mouth. She watched as Katya’s pink tongue slipped ever so slightly from her mouth, and dragged across her lower lip. Alaska swallowed hard and shifted on the bed. Katya’s hand moved from Alaska’s mouth to caress her cheek. Those shocking eyes found Alaska’s again, calmer this time. Alaska relaxed her fists, slowly releasing her breath. </p><p>“We talk payment after you see your mother recover.” The sorceress retracted her hand and turned away, speaking to Alaska without looking at her again for a long while. Katya busied herself around the room, gathering up herbs and pulling vials from her bookshelf, whispering in unknown tongues and scrawling arcane symbols on what was either an altar or a workbench. </p><p>Alaska awkwardly stayed in bed, nibbling at the last of the sandwiches on the tray. After the shadows changed enough and it became clear to her that the preparation of her mother’s cure would not be a quick process, Alaska invited herself to investigate around the room. She found that she was able to identify many of the leaves and flowers Katya had pressed between pages of books or drying on the wall. She found herself drawn to an herb with quite long leaves and what looked like blue strings within the leaf. Nearby was what looked like a weed, only with tiny gold flakes which shimmered along the edges of its serrated leaves. She held up her thumb to compare the size. </p><p>“Uh, don’t touch those.” came a voice from behind her. Alaska spun around and spotted Katya sitting on a stack of books and reading a piece of yellowed parchment. “Most of those on that rack are poisonous or sharp or-- that one actually has tiny blades along the edges, they’ll rip your calves right open.”</p><p>Alaska stepped backward over some volcanic rock. She gave the golden-edged weed another look before abandoning the drying racks all together. She knitted her fingers together and held her hands in front of her. Katya had gone back to her work, and the last thing Alaska wanted to do was bother the woman who would save her mother’s life, but the girl was starting to get very bored. And, judging by the window, they were only now approaching midday. “Is there anything I can help with?” asked Alaska at last. “Anything. Is there a well? I can get us water--”</p><p>“You’d carry a pitcher of water all the way up here?” asked Katya over the top of a leather volume.</p><p>Alaska shrugged. “If that’s what needed doing.”</p><p>Katya set her face and crossed her ankles. “Actually,” she said. “Now that you mention it, I should be due for a supply drop soon. If you would, take my cloak and head down the slope of the hills. The drop site is by this cliff, nearby city provides it. Men climb the cliff with the crate and drop it in the hole at the drop site.”</p><p>“You want me to check the drop site?” Alaska lit up with the prospect of being actually useful. </p><p>“Yeah, do that if you’d like. They usually have some young men guarding it against theft. Katya looked around. “You’ll need something to identify you as an emissary of mine. Uhh… here.” She grabbed a brooch from some deep pocket. It was gilt, in the shape of a beetle, with the bug’s abdomen being a shimmering stone which seemed to change color depending how Alaska held it up against the light.  </p><p>Katya continued to insist Alaska wear her cloak when she went, and to keep the sorceress from becoming agitated, Alaska submitted. Katya tried to make Alaska wear her boots, but Alaska was a good head taller than the sorceress, and Katya’s shoes would not fit her. Katya muttered something unpleasant and compromised with Alaska on letting her wear her own shoes, but while borrowing Katya’s wool stockings. However, Alaska’s boots were in poor condition. Quick as a flash, Katya had them mended and no longer falling apart at the seams. She set her guest off with the heavy front door key, some bread and dried fruit for the journey, and Alaska was off.</p><p>_____</p><p>She made her way down the many hills easily. The little valleys between hills collected loose stones, and she stopped every once in a while to pick up an interesting rock and examine it. Ultimately, she returned all the stones to their place, but Alaska felt a longing to sneak a few into the pockets of Katya’s heavy cloak. </p><p>For as much as she’d protested, Alaska was thankful the sorceress had loaned her her cloak. The heavy fabric stood strong like a wall against the constant wind, so much so that she almost forgot the gustling around her. Her biggest reminder was whenever she changed the direction she was walking in, and the wind was able to press against her face. </p><p>Before she knew it, Alaska was halfway down to the drop off location. Though she couldn’t see the crate, she did see the place where the surrounding mountain peaks dropped off suddenly. There was mist obscuring the view, but Alaska presumed once she was closer, she would be able to see the village which supplied Katya. Perhaps she’d be able to see the castle where their lord resided. She felt a far-off sting of yearning. It was a feeling which had been coming back to her during the last few days. All alone, in the wilderness, roughing it out, meeting new people occasionally. Some nice, some not. She ached to be able to travel like this more often. </p><p>Alaska condemned herself. <em> Remember the reason for your journey </em>. Her stomach sank. Then growled. </p><p>Shaking off her inner monologue of wanderlust and guilt, Alaska walked up to the top of the nearest hill and sat down. The ground was cold beneath her. Facing away from the wind, as always, she retrieved the dried fruit slices from her pocket and started munching. </p><p>She thought back to the sandwiches this morning. She had hesitated, bits of warnings from old stories about eating fairy food. She now knew that was foolish to be concerned about. Katya was no fairy— she was fair, definitely. All the tales of the wicked witch, cursed to reside isolated in a tower high in the mountains, Alaska now saw how foolish they were too. Katya was not wicked, she had warmed her by the fire, given her dry clothes to wear, food to eat, surrendered her own bed to a needy stranger. </p><p>Whoever had cursed her to live in that tower must have done something really terrible to Katya, so that she <em> had </em> to retaliate to protect herself. Or else, Katya must have been trying to help, only for her good nature to be spat upon. Katya could have been blamed for something not her fault, like a plague or crop failure. People were cruel, this Alaska had known since she stopped being a child. And they were especially cruel to those who were kind, simply because of their kindness. </p><p>When she came to the cliff, Alaska found, true to Katya’s word, a guard in the form of a boy. He was in that awkward stage before boys become men, but when they are no longer only boys. His pink eyes showed only, the rest of him obscured by heavy furs, caked with dirt and ice. He sat on a patch of recently disturbed dirt, about as wide across as Alaska’s long legs. “Hello,” said Alaska when she approached. </p><p>The boy stood. “Yo- you’re not her,” he said. “You’re too tall to be her.”</p><p>Alaska nodded and reached into her pocket. “You’re right,” she said. “She gave me this, do you recognize it?” She showed off the beetle brooch, flashing it in the afternoon light. </p><p>The boy nodded and pulled a shovel from his pack. “She usually does some witching and we don’t have to dig it up,” he said.</p><p>Alaska held her arms around herself. “Sorry about that.”</p><p>The boy shook his head and set to work un-burying Katya’s package. This took time, about two hours by Alaska’s reckoning, and during that time she learned the boy’s name (Doug), how many siblings he had (three, plus a baby he didn’t count as a proper person yet), as well as what the village he came from was called. She also learned that the days he was told to guard the package were good days, because he was sent away with food so he’d have the energy to make the climb. Alaska understood on a level she only hoped Doug would understand. His stature and age reminded her of her younger brothers, bringing up the ache in her heart. </p><p>Once Doug had unearthed enough of the package, he grabbed an iron hook and rope from his pack. The rope was tied to the hook, and the hook was connected to a piece on the top of the package. He then walked off with the rope to a spot where there was an iron pole in the ground. With that rope and hook and pole and a pulley he also retrieved out of that pack of his, Doug was able to haul the package out of the ground enough that Alaska could grab on and pull it out the rest of the way. </p><p>Before sending him off, Alaska thanked Doug with what was left of the dried fruit and half of the bread Katya had given her. “Try not to stuff yourself,” she warned the boy. “You may have trouble getting down safely.” By the charmed look in his eye, Alaska presumed Doug would be returning home with a fuller belly than he’d left with. </p><p>As for her, Alaska realized the trek back would be significantly more difficult than it had been coming. Nevertheless, she was intent on fulfilling her duty. Doug had left her the rope, insisting he had plenty to get down with— and he did, Alaska saw that eighty percent of the contents of his pack were rope. So, she had the hook on the package and the rope over her shoulder and was lugging the thing back to the tower before long. Most of the way back she spent alternating between trying to pull with both her arms while walking backward, and with the rope over her shoulder. Halfway up, Alaska tied the rope around her waist and started crawling with her hands as well. She could continue to lead the package through the rocky valleys, but she felt her strength fading and she needed to be back at the tower before nightfall. </p><p>When she was about a hundred feet away from the tower, the doors flew open, showering light down the hills, illuminating the rest of Alaska’s way. Not long after, Katya came running toward her, jabbering about how difficult the trek up must have been by herself and how tired she must be. “Honestly I have to stop forgetting not everyone has magic!” Katya said. </p><p>Alaska barked a laugh on half a breath. Katya waved her hands and the package began to float in the air like a piece of dandelion fluff. Alaska tried to catch her breath as she made it the rest of the way up to the tower. Once inside, Alaska walked over to the very couch she’d been on last night, and dove into the cushions face-first, letting her feet hang off the opposite edge. Relishing the ability to let all of her muscles relax, Alaska let out a moan and turned her face to the small fire on her right. </p><p>After some time, just letting the fire warm her face from the sofa, Alaska felt Katya come up behind the couch and approach her dangling feet. The sorceress began to undo the fastenings on Alaska’s shoes by hand. The relief bloomed in Alaska; she felt almost comfortable enough to purr. When Katya finally pulled the first boot off, Alaska breathed out a soft moan. Before pulling off the second boot, Katya moved her hands along Alaska’s foot, over her stockings, squeezing and rubbing the tension away. Alaska let out a sigh of relief and rolled over to give Katya access to more of her leg. </p><p>Katya continued with her expert foot rub until both of Alaska’s pink feet were bare and tingling. Alaska looked up at her through heavy lashes, her breathing deep and relaxed. When Katya spoke to her, she did so in a sweet, low voice, so as not to startle Alaska’s well-deserved peace. “I don’t mean to be too forward, but I’ve been heating an herbal bath for your return upstairs.”</p><p>Alaska let out a wistful sigh. “That sounds lovely.” Her smile faded. “But upstairs is so far.”</p><p>Katya’s red lips widened into a mischievous grin. “Who said you had to <em> climb </em> the stairs?”</p><p>Alaska’s face took on a slight air of confusion. Katya rounded the couch and held out her arms, telling Alaska to reach around her neck. Slowly, Alaska leaned up to allow Katya to get her deceptively strong arms around her knees, as she knitted her fingers together behind the sorceress’ neck. It seemed to take almost no effort for Katya to lift Alaska, bridal style, into the air. Alaska’s breath pressed feathers against Katya’s hot neck. Katya clenched her jaw against the feeling. “Now,” she said to Alaska. “Close your eyes.”</p><p>Alaska’s lids slid shut. She heard Katya whisper something unrecognizable, and suddenly she smelled old parchment and drying herbs again. Without being told, Alaska opened her eyes and found she and Katya were once again in the room at the top of the tower! Astounded, Alaska let out a throaty chuckle. “No way,” she whispered.</p><p>Katya looked down at her with smugness. “Way.”</p><p>A brass tub had appeared somewhere between the opening to the staircase, the overflowing wardrobe, and the bed. It was half filled already with water, and Alaska could both see and feel the steam rising off its surface. She suspected the desire to submerge herself was severe enough to count as a form of lust.</p><p>Katya had taken off her boots for her already. Now, the sorceress worked to unfasten her cloak from Alaska’s shoulders while Alaska pulled off her gloves. After the cloak, Katya undid the ties on the front of the dress, her hands working with incredible dexterity. Alaska realized that all of the clothing she had on left had once been on Katya’s body. This thought caused a shiver to ripple through her. </p><p>“I know, I’m sorry,” Katya hissed, having assumed her guest’s reaction was to the temperature. She rubbed her hands against Alaska’s arms, hoping to warm her up. This touch had the opposite effect on Alaska, but she could hardly tell her that. </p><p>The yellow dress came off over Alaska’s head, leaving her in her underdress. She was grateful that when Katy had dressed her, she’d not put any stays on her. Alaska could hardly imagine being forced to wait another moment before being able to cast off her underdress and leap into that aromatic steaming bath. Finally free, Alaska all but dove into Katya’s brass bathtub. While she relaxed into the lovely hot water, the sorceress behind her had to take a moment to collect herself. Of course, she had dressed Alaska last night, but the girl had been nobody to her then. She had been a bruised, exhausted traveller in need. Seeing her without clothes this time felt uniquely… unique.</p><p>Katya was brought back to the moment by Alaska herself. “How did you know I love lavender?”</p><p>Katya swallowed. “It’s a soothing scent,” she said. All her charisma seemed to have bled out of her. She cursed her limitless mind for being utterly unable to conjure a single conversational phrase.</p><p>Instead of talking, Katya picked up a brush, doused it in the water and started brushing out the very ends of Alaska’s hair. If she undid the updo Alaska’s hair was already in, her flaxen locks would pool on the floor. The night the girl had shown up at her tower doors and passed out downstairs, Katya had wanted to brush the muck and grime from her hair, but halfway through the endeavor she realized just how much hair Alaska had.  She only stopped once the girl’s hair no longer smelled like the woods. Alaska had shown up with her hair in some kind of updo, which had tangled and matted itself in such a way that Katya wouldn’t be able to rectify that night. Now she set herself back to the task, starting to retread over the de-tangling work she’d done the night before. “Have you ever had your hair cut?” Katya asked without thinking. </p><p>Alaska let out a throaty chuckle. “Uh, not all of it at once, no.”</p><p>“Is that a religious thing, or…?”</p><p>Alaska reared back around to shoot Katya a scandalized and overly offended look. </p><p>“What?” Katya defended. “I’m just asking so I know, because honey I don’t know if this rats nest is gonna come out willingly.”</p><p>Alaska turned back around and rubbed some water behind her ears. “It’s not religious,” she said begrudgingly. “I like having Rapunzel hair. It’s not my mom’s fault I go around like this. She’d try and cut my hair and she’d give chase when I ran screaming around the whole village because I didn’t want to have my hair cut!”</p><p>Katya laughed along with Alaska at the mental image. “You know,” said Katya. “That sounds very much like something you would do.”</p><p>“How rude,” said Alaska. </p><p>“Anyway...” Katya continued brushing out snarls from Alaska’s hair one inch at a time, holding tight to the top of the hair as she pulled, so as not to cause the girl discomfort. “I think Rapunzel’s hair was magical. Had to be, otherwise it’d smell terrible, since it’d be impossible to wash.”</p><p>Alaska shifted in the tub. “I wash it.”</p><p>Katya made a noise in the back of her mouth. “I think you do wash the ends and probably the front, but all this knotted up stuff up here? Doesn’t get washed, it can’t. It’s too matted.” Noticing Alaska’s ashamed reactions to her words, Katya eased up a bit. “Not that it’s your fault. It doesn’t make you a dirty poor person or anything, it’s just anyone with this kind of hair situation going on would end up with the same problem.”</p><p>“So what would you suggest?” asked Alaska. “Oh highest of barbers?”</p><p>Katya cackled. “I suggest you enjoy your warm water and let me work my magic on these tangles. I’ll still be brushing by the time you get out of the bath and will still be brushing by the time you fall asleep.”</p><p>Alaska agreed with Katya’s proposal. She sighed and relaxed further into the bath. “And in the meantime?” she asked.</p><p>Katya hummed. “How about you tell me more about your home? Do your family keep livestock? Are there wild horses? Hogs? You mentioned a palm reader, I believe?”</p><p>“Fortune teller,” Alaska corrected. “She mostly works with the stars and the herbs.”</p><p>“What does she use them for?” Katya asked. “Does she summon spirits or bless babies or arrange marriages?”</p><p>Alaska shook her head -- slightly, so as not to disturb Katya’s brushing. “She usually gives advice to the grieving. She’s a lot like the priest in that way. Usually when someone has a sick animal or a field that isn’t yielding crops, they go to her to have her check for black magic.”</p><p>“Black magic,” Katya mumbled with a smile. </p><p>“What’s that?” Alaska turned to the side.</p><p>“Just…” Katya struggled to find words to tell Alaska there wasn’t any black magic, in a way she would accept, given that her mother was suffering with a curse of cracking and withering. The girl might question Katya’s alliance with what she believed to be the Light, and that was the last thing she wanted. At last, Katya said, “Magic is rarely the reason for unfortunate events.”</p><p>Alaska nodded. “She told me she usually leaves the farm with a blessing and some fresh soil from the forest. She says the new soil enriches the dead soil, so crops can flourish again.”</p><p>“She sounds wise,” said Katya, her mind starting to wander. “What about sheep? Chickens-- surely you keep chickens. Everyone keeps chickens.”</p><p>Alaska nodded. “We keep a small flock. For the eggs and the meat. They eat our food though, sometimes.”</p><p>Katya scoffed. “How very dare they? Don’t they know they <em> are </em> the food, they don’t get to steal <em> your </em> food?”</p><p>“Uhmm,” Alaska started, then blushed and grew quiet. </p><p>“What is it?”</p><p>“Just,” Alaska managed. “Speaking of food…”</p><p>Katya cackled. “Good to know my strategy is working.” she stood up and left to the opposite side of the room. She rummaged around in a chest of some kind, and pulled out brown paper with some kind of meat inside. “I have… this is what’s left of last fortnight’s supply, but I have fish jerky and I can grab some citrus from the crate downstairs.”</p><p>“Sounds fine,” said Alaska. Fish jerky was not her favorite, but far be it from a poor girl to refuse food simply because of taste. When it came to food, if it wasn’t poison, Alaska would eat it. </p><p>While she chewed and chewed and chewed on that jerky, Alaska said to the sorceress: “Where did you grow up? My life must be so boring, so common. Where does a sorceress come from?”</p><p>Katya halted in her brushing. She had to make some very quick decisions before she said anything. What version of the truth did she want to tell? What version would Alaska accept without running from the tower? Before Katya could write the story in her head, Alaska spoke up again.</p><p>“It’s alright if you don’t want to say.” </p><p>Katya leaned over enough to see the corner of a downcast brown eye.</p><p>“I don’t want to cause you pain, if it’s that kind of story.”</p><p>Katya sighed. “I don’t want to cause you pain either. So, I’ll tell you a different story instead. </p><p>“Once upon a time, there was… a king. And this king had a dead wife, and two daughters. This didn’t bode well for the future of the kingdom, so he was encouraged to take a new wife. The king knew his duty to produce a son, but he was still so in love with his late queen, he lamented that he would be the last of his line, because he could never love again. </p><p>“It was decided amongst his allies that a magician would be sent to court. Someone who could make the king fall in love again, so there wouldn’t be a war over who got to be king when he died. And a magician was sent. A young one, who was considered too young to do anything more important than a simple love spell… </p><p>“It worked. The king became infatuated with one of the eligible noblewomen that came to see him, married her, had a child with her. A son. Joy of joys. But that child grew sick, and died. It happened once again, with another son,  and the king, queen, and everyone else looked for someone to blame. </p><p>“Of course the blame fell on the young mage, who must have made a mistake, who must have fallen in love with the king herself. Who must have been jealous of the new queen. Who must have <em> taken out her jealousy </em> on the infant princes.”</p><p>Alaska looked up in horror. “What happened to her?” she whispered. </p><p>Katya ran her fingers through inches of freshly-brushed hair. She pressed gently against the back of Alaska’s scalp. The girl reached up to squeeze Katya’s hand reassuringly. “The same thing that happens to all evil witches,” answered Katya. “She was punished.</p><p>“Too afraid of retribution, they wouldn’t put her to death. Too afraid of her escaping, they wouldn’t imprison her in the dungeons with all the other assassins and political prisoners. Instead, the king had a tower built on the very edge of his kingdom. So remote was this tower, that only one brick could be brought at a time. He commanded the sorceress to help his men build her own prison. And she agreed. She built up her own tower without complaint. She thought, ‘they’ll see how cooperative I am. They’ll see how useful I am to have around. They’ll…’ ” Katya let out a dry, humorless laugh. “She thought: ‘they’ll change their minds’... </p><p>“They did not change their minds. And the sorceress was imprisoned. They let her keep some of her nice things from court, on account of she became friendly with the king’s daughters. Many years passed, and to this day, the sorceress does not know if her imprisonment is helpful. If the king and queen managed to produce a healthy heir. Though, so many years have passed, surely the king is dead by now.”</p><p>Alaska didn’t realize the story was over until Katya had been silent for a good few minutes, the hairbrush unmoving in her lap. She turned around, reached down to hold Katya’s hand in her own. The sorceress woke up enough to look deeply into Alaska’s eyes. This time, Alaska did not shy away. She gently dragged her thumb across Katya’s hand, like her mother and her sister had done for her many times before. To say, without saying, <em> I am here, I am beside you, we are together, and that alone is good </em>. </p><p>Katya seemed to be leaning in close, falling slowly toward Alaska. Alaska turned her body in the tub, resulting in enough noise to wake Katya from whatever spell she was caught in. She looked at Alaska again, this time with more clarity.  </p><p>Alaska looked back at her with a sense of lightness.“Why don’t we get ready for bed?”</p><p>Katya went to grab a towel, which had been warming by the fire, and bit down on her tongue. The waning moon gazed down at her through the window, and the sorceress sent up a silent prayer that she would have the strength and restraint to care for this gorgeous maiden in her bathtub without offending her sensibilities or endangering what friendship they had. Taking the strength of the moon into her veins, Katya turned around and held the towel open for Alaska to step into. She did her best to avert her eyes, or to only keep her gaze on Alaska’s face, that hair that still needed work. Alaska took the towel out of Katya’s hands and wrapped herself up. </p><p>Alaska sat on the bureau at the foot of Katya’s bed and rubbed her arms and legs with the towel. Katya flinched and tried to find something to look at on the opposite wall. Alaska shifted and re-wrapped the towel around herself. “Is there something the matter?”</p><p>Katya seemed to flail as she spun around to answer Alaska. “No? Why would something be the matter?”</p><p>Alaska shrugged those glistening shoulders. God, her skin looked divine in the candlelight. She made a noncommittal sound. “Where did you put that dress?” She asked Katya, scanning the floor for the saffron-dyed fabric. </p><p>“What dr— oh.” Katya started pulling apart her wardrobe again, looking for something comfortable Alaska could sleep in. “Uh,” she managed, pulling out a tan day dress with grass stains on the hem from where she’d knelt on it in her small garden. She looked back at Alaska, wondering if the garment would even fit her, but the girl was rubbing her arms for warmth now, so she didn’t have a surplus of time to decide. </p><p>Katya held out the dress for Alaska. “See if that works. It’ll be slightly uncomfortable without a chemise, but you’ve already worn my spare set.” </p><p>Alaska pulled the bottom of the dress open experimentally, to see what the inside lining felt like. “I could just put the other one on,” she said. </p><p>Katya shook her head. “You don’t go from a clean bath into unwashed undergarments.”</p><p>Alaska smiled. Her fingers set to work undoing the front fastenings of the dress. She was going to step into the thing, she’d decided, after reasoning that with half her hair brushed out, she’d never get it over her head without disaster. The fabric wasn’t the softest, but Alaska wasn’t a stranger to slight discomfort. As soon as she stood up, however, she noticed Katya turned away again. Her pale face was colored with blush, which intensely complimented her light blue eyes. Rather than ask again what the sorceress’ issue was, Alaska figured it was just as well if she got herself dressed and burrowed into Katya’s sheets. </p><p>She resisted the urge to shiver as the water on her skin drew the cool night air into her bones. Alaska gratefully pulled on the stockings Katya had laid out for her, relishing in the warmth of the wool. Katya turned around again once Alaska took up a space at the side of the large bed. The girl pulled the blankets up and tucked herself into the center of the mattress just as if it were her own. Katya felt the familiar twinge return to her heart, her selfish desires rising once again. </p><p>Once Alaska had made herself comfortable in Katya’s bed, she looked over at the sorceress, still standing in the middle of the room. She patted the spot next to her, indicating for Katya to join her. Katya sent another prayer to the moon before taking up her brush once again to join Alaska. Now as she continued to work her way through the other’s locks, she wanted to hear the girl’s voice again. “If I were to inquire as to your happiest memory,” said Katya. “A moment where you felt true joy, like all was right with the world and you were content with your place in it.” </p><p>Alaska looked up at her briefly, then lowered her face as she entered deep thought. After a while of contemplating, she finally said “There was a summer...many years ago, when I was still a girl. Mother was keeping the boys at home, so we were free to roam. And Brooke had been friends with a boy who worked the stables for Mr. Cunningham. He and his family were away for a wedding, so the horses needed exercising.” </p><p>Alaska went on to describe how in the field where it was only her and her sister Brooke, in the heat and the burning sun and sticking of sweat, they shed layers of clothing. They took off their caps and piled their hair on top of their heads to keep it off their necks, shed shoes and stockings. They rode astride like a man would, for no one was around to leer or balk at their pulled up skirts and immodest behavior. And the sun was shining and the horses had been freshly brushed so their coats shimmered gold. And when the girls and the horses grew too hot they rode down to the lake. They leapt in, naked as babes, and played like children, carefree for one of the last times. </p><p>Katya fidgeted listening to this about the lake, and prayed for composure. </p><p>“Looking back,” said Alaska. “I’m so thankful no one saw. Not that I wouldn’t love to feel that way again, but…”</p><p>“But,” Katya finished. “Two young ladies being so vulnerable puts them in danger.”</p><p>Alaska, though warm and snug in Katya’s bed, shivered. She placed her hands in front of her chin. “Do you know any songs?”</p><p>Katya halted in her brushing. “You wouldn’t want to hear me sing.”</p><p>Alaska yawned. </p><p>Katya stopped praying. The sorceress’ mouth dried up. </p><p>“You could do it quietly,” said Alaska. </p><p>Katya, once again able, swallowed hard. “I uh…” she tried to decline. Then Alaska glanced up at her with those big brown eyes, half lidded in fatigue. And that was the moment Katya knew she was in trouble. That was when she knew she was in love. </p><p>Because Alaska had asked, and because Katya now realized she would do anything Alaska might ask, she sang. Softly, humming mostly, but she sang. She sang the folk ballads she grew up with, some things she’d heard at court, lullabies that the queen and her nurses sang to the ailing princes as they made their way to the next world. And by the time she ran out of songs, she had completed brushing out Alaska’s long flaxen hair. The girl let out a soft, half-asleep sound and Katya felt her spirit leave her physical body.</p><p>When the girl’s breathing had long since evened out, Katya left the bed. She dug through the many vials in her bedside table and the chest at the foot of her bed. At last, she found a nearly full vial of lavender scented potion. Flecks of silver glinted as they spun around from within the translucent  liquid. Katya grabbed a spare cloth to place over the open vial before turning it over, allowing the potion to saturate the cloth. This substance Katya dabbed on Alaska’s forehead, chin, and cheekbones. Katya then pressed two fingers over Alaska’s third eye and placed a dream in her head. </p><p>And while she watched Alaska dream, her delicate lashes fluttering, eyes moving beneath her lids, all the thoughts Katya had forced down bounced right to the front of her mind. How the candlelight reflected off the soft curves of Alaska’s form. How her eyes shone with liveliness. How she was so <em> present. </em> She was flesh and blood and bone and she was <em> here. </em> No one had come to visit Katya in five years. Her last visitor had been this brash, borish man. She hadn’t so much as let him in her front door. But how long was it since Katya had been not only in the presence of, but felt the <em> touch </em> of another person? That, she suspected, was when the guards had hauled her away in a carriage. But anything akin to a loving touch? It had been since the last time she saw the princesses Kameron and Brooke Lynn.</p><p>The king’s daughters had been fair, like Alaska. But they had also been royal all their lives. On Alaska’s hands were callouses. There was dirt and leaves in her hair. She was undaunted by danger and discomfort, and she was brave. And Katya longed to know more about her. She longed to look into those eyes and reach out and kiss her. It was this longing that guided Katya’s hand between her own legs, beginning to satisfy the aching need that had been growing all through the evening.</p><p>While in her mind, Alaska rode on horseback with her sister on a sunny day, in Katya’s tower, in Katya’s <em> bed </em>, she could not be awakened by the loudest sound. Despite knowing this, Katya still kept her arm over her own mouth. As she did, it occurred to her that it might be improper to be pleasuring herself while sharing a bed with the girl. It seemed like crossing some line. Even after turning her body away from Alaska, it still felt too wrong to continue. Katya let out a frustrated growl and spun off the bed, planting herself on the floor with her back to the mattress. Still, the presence of Alaska was too near. </p><p>Looking up, Katya’s eyes were drawn to the delicate moonbeam falling through her window, resting demurely on one of her many stacks of books and papers. She made her way over to let her face and neck bathe in the cool and gentle moonlight. “Oh, Луна,” she breathed. “What am I to do?” In answer to her prayer, a whisper of a breeze turned Katya’s cheek, and she looked upon her room once again. This time, however, she found her attention drawn to the empty brass bathtub. Her heart did an uncomfortable thud in her chest again.</p><p>She made quick work of clearing enough space on the floor where the moonlight touched. Again, even though she had seen to it that Alaska would remain asleep, Katya made as little noise as possible while pulling the tub across the floor. She also grabbed the dirty clothes Alaska had worn, which carried the scent of her like a fond memory. Now Katya shed her own clothes and sat inside the tub. She resumed her ministrations, stroking her neck with two fingers, imagining them to be Alaska’s fair and slim lips. She rolled her hips onto her hand, begging for release as she breathed Alaska’s scent in deep. She stuck her fingers into her mouth and sucked. Katya presented herself as desperate, needy, wanton before her first wife, the moon. Her glowing white face had been Katya’s only companion through the years of her exile, and she prayed to her patroness now.</p><p>
  <em> Луна. You wise and gentle and ancient one. Look upon your follower with mercy. Please. Let this bout of ecstasy purge thoughts of closeness with this girl. Let my dedication to you surpass my desires to know the girl. Alaska.  </em>
</p><p>Thinking the name of the girl in her bed, Katya found her climax. She cast aside Alaska’s dirty clothes, mildly disgusted by her actions with them. Reaching down, she picked her own dress and chemise back up. After re-dressing herself and consciously ending her prayer to the moon, Katya plodded back over to her bed, understanding already that she would have no sleep tonight. Nevertheless, she tucked herself back into bed beside the fair maiden. Alaska’s hand was up by her neck. Katya contemplated that hand for a good long while before she gave in and wove Alaska’s sleeping fingers in with her own. Unable to help herself, Katya pressed a soft kiss to the back of Alaska’s hand.</p><p>She spent most of the night thereafter memorizing the sleeping face next to her. To keep with her when Alaska left… tomorrow.</p><p>Her heart ached already.</p><p> </p>
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